Naver to acquire fashion major Poshmark in $1.2b deal

South Korean internet giant Naver has inked a deal to acquire Poshmark, a Nasdaq-listed secondhand fashion ecommerce marketplace, for about US$1.2 billion.

Photo credit: Shutterstock

The acquisition is expected to close by the first quarter of 2023.

The deal will allow Naver to gain a foothold in the fashion recommerce space while also expanding its presence in the US, where Poshmark has over 80 million registered users across 90% of the country. This also accelerates Naver’s plan to build a global ecommerce community portfolio and capture growth in large markets worldwide.

In turn, Poshmark gains access to the South Korean market. It will also be able to leverage Naver’s analytics tools and image recognition tech to improve its offerings.

Naver also brings its expertise in backing other fashion and ecommerce platforms, which can be tapped by Poshmark to grow its offerings.

The fashion recommerce platform will continue to operate under its own brand as a standalone US subsidiary of Naver, maintaining its community, employee base, and management team led by founder and CEO Manish Chandra.

“Poshmark is a natural fit for our business – our two companies share a common set of values and vision around content, community, and empowerment,” said Naver CEO Soo-Yeon Choi.

Founded in 1999, Naver, which is known for the Line app, had previously acquired content platform Wattpad in 2021. It had also invested in Singapore-headquartered ecommerce platform Carousell in 2020.

See also: Niche recommerce takes the fight to Carousell in SEA